Height and Depth

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

I took this picture in Brazil.  It immediately brought this verse to mind.  It was a lonely time for me - three weeks in a foreign country on business and no one to talk to because my Internet didn't work.  Seeing this cliff over the sea evoked the idea of height and depth and reminded me that even in the midst of a place where I knew no one, God was still there.  In fact, off to the left of the frame, across the water, was a giant statue of Jesus called Christ the Redeemer.

To me, this picture is a reminder that we all feel far from God and our fellow man, but that He is always there.

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Are you my neighbor?

 ¹⁵ " 'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
 ¹⁶ " 'Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
      " 'Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the LORD.
 ¹⁷ " 'Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
 ¹⁸ " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:15-18 (NIV)

I've been reading Christ In Our Home, a daily devotional that Pastor David Penman, the chaplain for Kairos this year, gave to the Kairos planning group.  At first I didn't want to steal from it, but I've decided to share my thoughts based on where the devotional leads me.

Today the discussion was about how sometimes when we love others as ourselves, we are doing a pretty bad job because we don't love ourselves all that well.  The good news is that God loves me even when I don't love myself.

This got me thinking . . . all those times when Jesus is talking about our neighbor, he's not just talking about our friends - or even our enemies - he's also talking about ourselves.  The above verses jumped out at me as an instruction manual on how to deal with depression.  Depression is often caused by being angry with yourself.  Verse fifteen says, don't be too hard on yourself.  This doesn't mean you shouldn't be upset when you do something wrong, but don't berate yourself endlessly for the mistakes you've made.

Verse sixteen is pretty straightforward.  Don't kill yourself.  Seems like kind of a "no duh" thing to say, but placed with the slander part it also seems to talk to the idea that people who are mad at themselves sometimes go out of their way to ask for trouble.  Don't do things that are dangerous just because they are dangerous.

In verse seventeen we get straight to the heart of the matter: "'Do not hate your brother in your heart."  You cannot hold onto the anger.  There's a popular saying, "Hate the sin, not the sinner."  This distinction is important when you're looking inward at your own sin.  We are hardest on ourselves.  But until we can separate ourselves from the sin and say, "That's not who I have to be."  The sin continues to hold power over us.  "Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt."  Own up to what you have done.  Really examine it, and make a decision to change your behavior - and then rely on the Lord to help you.

This brings us to verse eighteen.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, this verse from Leviticus is what he quotes as number two, after "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind."  Number two is love your neighbor as yourself.  Where to begin?  You start with yourself.  You love yourself so that you can love others.  God will always give us more love, so don't forget to hold onto some for yourself when you're giving it away.  Trust in the Lord.

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Love Eternal

15 "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!

16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.

Isaiah 49:15-16 (New International Version)

There's more that dances on the prairies
Than the wind
More that pulses in the ocean than the tide
There's a love that is fiercer
Than the love between friends
More gently than a mother's
When her baby's at her side
- Rich Mullins, If I Stand

These verses are God responding to His people's cry that He has forsaken them. He says that he will love us more than a mother loves her child - never forgetting us no matter what. It is a love eternal. This passage is one of comfort and hope.

This is the last set of verses and lyrics for Rich Mullins' song, If I Stand. The song has always been one of comfort to me, even though it's a somewhat sad and slow tune. The verses he ascribes to his lyrics speak of God's greatness, the eternal reward of heaven, his love for us. They speak of hope, comfort and love.

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Hospitality

⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

1 Peter 4:8-9 (NIV)

For the next two days I will be away at the VA Synod Vocations Conference. It's where you learn about being a pastor. What you have to do, talk to people about what it's like and decide if it's something you really want to do. I went last year, and I'm going again this year. Last year was just to get a head start. This year it will hopefully be the first step on a new journey for me. Please pray for all those in attendance this week.

Since I'll be away again, I'm doing a series of three passages for the next three days. I was going to do three different passages on these three topics, but a single passage from 1 Peter 4 worked very well.

This past weekend I spent the weekend with Sarah Yucha's family. They were wonderful and gracious hosts. They fed us delicious food and helped us out in big ways and small. (See tomorrow's verse for more on that.) What struck me was how many families have opened up their homes to myself and others as part of the Kairos planning group process - and not just before Kairos, but after it. The Delaney household, and Dave's wife Nancy in particular is always so wonderful about us invading her house for half a week and then stealing her husband for another week after that. Jack French's family put us up last year and fed us blueberries until we burst (ok I ate most of them). My time there was one of the fondest memories I have of the 2008 Kairos week. This year Malinda Britt's family put us up and made us feel so welcome. Last year Justin Arnold's family and Mandy Fitzgerald's family shared the task of housing the planning group for a reunion. Their parents were so nice and glad to have us.

I mention all these families first because I am thankful for what they did for me and the other members of various planning groups they have housed. But I also mention it because every time I went into one of these houses I felt welcomed as a brother in Christ. I felt what Jesus talks about when he talks about welcoming people into your home. They didn't just open the door, but made us feel like we belonged. They took time out of their lives to get to know us and form relationships with us. They took time to have fellowship with us. These memories are some of the fondest I have of my past two Kairos, and I just wish that more people could share the experience.

My point? Fellowship is a wonderful experience - and it is not limited to Kairos or Winter Celebration or reunions or church narthexes. Fellowship is something you enjoy whenever you are with fellow Christians. Enjoy it. Seek it out. Offer it with joy. It will bring you and others so much more in return.

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Be Imitators of God

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV)

Our third verse for this weekend is from today's lessons. We come back to our first verse, where Jesus tells us to love like Him. We add in the idea of not just loving, but of living. Live a life of love. If we are living a life of love, the verse tells us, we are a living sacrifice, giving of ourselves for others. We love one another as Jesus loves us. We carry each other's burdens. We live a life of sacrifice.

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Love Each Other

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:12 (NIV)

Today's verse is part of a three-parter for the weekend. The theme is following Jesus' commandment to love one another, and how the Bible tells us to do that. Today we have Jesus telling us to love one another as He loves us. He set an example and He asks us to follow it.

Every time I think what it means to love like Christ, I think about loving those I would first judge. For me, that's people who aren't Christians, and people who have politically different opinions. I find myself often disregarding what they have to say and not wanting to associate with them. So when I think about this, I think about not just tolerating, but trying to understand people who have different points of view. Then when I encounter people who don't think as I do, I have a loving way of relating to them and disagreeing without judging, and without acrimony (being mean).

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Basket of Love and Grace - Free Refills

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

I John 4:9 (NIV)

This verse immediately made me think of our response to it. The Great Commission is Jesus' instructions for us to go out into the world and share the good news. This verse is God showing us what he did for us before he asked us to go out into the world. The Great Commission isn't just orders we follow, but our response to the wonderful gifts of love and grace that God has given us. Even more that, it is God saying, "Hey I have this bottomless basket of fish and bread - go share it." Except it's a bottomless basket of grace and love, and the more we give, the more we receive - both for our own lives and to share with others.

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There Is No Fear In Love

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

I John 4:18 (ESV)

This is one of my favorite verses. It was the theme verse when I was on the Winter Celebration planning group as a youth. This verse has always been a comfort to me since then. This is such a Godly way of saying, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear.

No fear. Just love. Even in places of darkness there is light because of love. God made the ultimate sacrifice for us out of love. He bestowed his grace upon us and because of that we are free to love. God's grace takes away our fear and replaces it with love.


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Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 (NRSV)

This verse was a verse that my pastor, Bob Humphrey, preached on for a number of weeks earlier this year during Lent. It popped up in my random Bible verse app today, and I thought it was a good one for today.

Why does God require these things of us? What struck me when I read this today is that when we do these things we are less likely to sin. Especially that last part - walk humbly with your God. When you are walking with God, aware of His presence, you are less likely to do the things you know you shouldn't. Sin likes darkness, and when we are walking in the light, it pushes back the sinful desires we have.

So I encourage you today to walk humbly with your God.

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Tablet of Your Heart

³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3

I asked my friend Mike tonight what verse I should use, and he gave me this verse. He said it was his life verse, the verse he would use to sum up the way he lives his life. I let him pick the picture too, and he started looking for stone crosses. I showed him the pictures I'd taken of the stone cross at Eagle Eyrie and you see the result. :)

This verse is so simple and so profound. It is a simple thing to say, and yet sometimes so hard to do. I think this verse speaks for itself though. Write them on the tablet of your heart.

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Love Never Fails

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:8

This was one of two verses we picked for this year's Crossroads event. This passage is at the end of the famous love passage that is read at every wedding. We actually used just the beginning of the verse: Love never fails. Think about that. True love - actual love - never fails. It is always there.

It is easy to say we have, "fallen out of love", or "I never really loved them". What we are talking about is our own human failings. It's not love's fault. Love hasn't gotten less potent. Love is constant. The same is true of God's presence. We can feel him at youth events, but when we get home we feel that he is gone. He isn't. God is there. God' grace is there. God's love is there.

Love never fails.

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Self-Sacrificing Love

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any affection or mercy, complete my joy and be of the same mind, by having the same love, being united in spirit, and having one purpose. Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,

Philippians 2:1-5 (NIV)

This passage speaks of how we should treat our fellow Christians. Furthermore it's the foundation of any good relationship - especially marriage and/or dating. The marriages that last and are happy are the ones where the partners live to make the other person happy (at least most of the time).

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